let’s play: Immaculate Grid!

"who had I already used"--an alternative to the age-old who/whom debate.

8/9 and 114 for me. My mistake came from thinking Mel Ott made it to the 3000 hit mark. Fell short by like 120 hits. But he was good for the 300 career avg

Balls

Let’s try that again (ty mod)
https://i.postimg.cc/3NRML7RD/IMG-8719.jpg

9/9, 9

https://imgur.com/a/zS1TS8S

I'm waiting for the day when you duck in to post a higher score than me...and if I drop to 8% later tonight, I will be back!

"You talkin' to me?"

https://www.probaseballhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Nap_Lajoie.jpg

aw busted link, but look up Nap Lajoie and tell me DeNiro isn't a dead ringer

I can see that. But not with a bat in his hand.

https://i.postimg.cc/bvgzW68v/bob.jpg

9/9, 19

https://i.imgur.com/r9MN49g.png

8/9, 108. I've made this same mistake before: thought of the two third basemen, Tim Wallach and Larry Parrish, for the Expos' 30-HR guy, and went with Wallach. Parrish hit 30 in '79; Wallach's high was 28 in '82.

https://i.postimg.cc/RFbHL4Z1/grid.jpg

I did drop to 9 yesterday--8.7%, to be precise, lower than buzza (9.2%). Have I mentioned that I'm a tad competitive? (And no, you are not allowed to update your score from yesterday, just me.)

https://www.immaculategrid.com/grid-370

9/9 85 rarity.

https://postimg.cc/Mf753tsz

Couldn’t think of anyone other that Robinson for O’s/reds and was genuinely surprised how high Brady Anderson’s score was. I’ve played this enough times now infront of my 9 year old that she now knows who George Sisler is!

Oh fuck ^ spoilers!!! Messed up my h tags!! Sorry

Rendon! The Anderson thing's a bit of a joke--he's remembered because of what a fluke it was, like Tommie Herr's 100 RBI for the Cards. Speaking of flukes, I have the perfect answer for the Expos' 30-HR guy now: Tony Batista, who I'll remember because of his 40 for the Jays.

To be fair, Batista hit 30 HR four times, so not exactly a fluke--his 40 felt like a fluke at the time.

He did play in an era of wild home run feats, so a few 30 runs seasons by a guy with the same (ish) last name as an even more famous home run masher easily falls down the memory well.

9/9, 24

i knew boog and bobby bo were not super low choices but sometimes you just gotta finish the grid, as a mets fan i should have picked singleton for the orioles +30, classic "the one who got away"

https://imgur.com/a/mp7MQH9

9/9...124! I was already at 64% with Yankees/Diamondbacks left; tried for two or three minutes to keep it under 100, drew a blank so settled for Johnson. 60%. Quickly scanning the options, I don't think I missed anybody I was going to get even if I'd sat there for an hour.

https://i.postimg.cc/x80p3Y9r/grid.jpg

9/9, 14. I finished strong with Juan Pizarro, Ray Oyler, and Bill Madlock--how can Madlock only be 1%?; if I'd filled those boxes earlier, I would have risked Tom Brookens for the Tigers' third baseman. I knew the team was right, just couldn't remember for sure what position he played--which was everywhere, it turns out, but primarily 3B, including a platoon with Howard Johnson on the '84 team.

https://i.postimg.cc/nrmbWYtk/grid.jpg

Bill Madlock was only on the Cubs for three years, but he finished third for ROY, then won back-to-back batting titles in his next two seasons.

9/9, 108. Hard one for rarity.

1) The one-team/2,000 K box. I figured Adam Wainwright and Felix Hernandez would have been the most common answers. (No--forgot about Kershaw.) I thought of Palmer, but didn't think he got to 2,000 K--he did. Then it came down to Koufax or Gibson; figured Gibson might be slightly less common. Only nine guys worked; those six, plus Walter Johnson, Don Drysdale, and Bob Feller. I assume one of those three would have been the best, but probably a pretty even split across the board.

2) I was 8/8, 62%, with the Padres one-team box left to go. What do you do there? I couldn't think of a single non-active player other than Gwynn--46%. I expected even higher, forgetting about Tatis, who probably accounts for almost as much, while all the other correct answers split the remaining 10%. For future reference, will try to remember Tim Flannery, whose 972 games with the Padres is second after Gwynn's 2,440--that's how big the gap is. (And the most by a pitcher is Mike Corkin's 157 between 1969-1974; don't remember the name at all.)

https://i.postimg.cc/NG5SFb3D/grid.jpg

9/9, 16. So-so; pretty wide open. Nothing over 4%, but only two under 1%, and one of those is a cheat. I should remember more of the '93 Phillies than I do because of that year's wild WS. Mickey Morandini, Kim "Batty" Batiste, Kevin Stocker, Tommy Greene, Ben Rivera, Wes Chamberlain--I've never used any of them.

https://i.postimg.cc/WzJRfxmv/grid.jpg

9/9, 45. Wide open but tricky. I had good answers for the first seven--about 10%--leaving 300 saves/HOF and, the biggest problem, 300 saves/10 wins. How to avoid Eckersley for the latter? I was pretty sure Gossage had done it, but I also wanted to use him for 300 saves/HOF. I went with Hoffman for the HOF and Gossage for the 10 wins. Both were much higher than I expected: 11% for Gossage (should have went with Lee Smith), 24% for Hoffman. Turns out that 300 saves/10 wins (11 players) is actually more common than 300 saves/HOF (7 players). Other 300 saves/10 wins guys besides Gossage and Eckersley: Fingers, Rick Aguilera, Francisco Cordero, John Franco, Roberto Hernández, Doug Jones, Todd Jones, José Mesa, Joe Nathan. Closers winning 10 in a season is not quite the ancient history I thought it was.

That's a lot of frivolous thinking before 10:00 a.m.

https://i.postimg.cc/HLC7txmk/grid.jpg

8/8, 16%. I will now go about my day, whispering a mantra of "A's/Marlins, A's/Marlins" under my breath until I manage to come up with something that seems even halfway reasonable.

Put myself out of my misery early--8/9, 115. Gave Rickey Henderson a shot--no. Forgot about Piazza's stopover there (five games), and didn't know Raines played his final season in Miami. Of course thought about trying Octavio Dotel, who wouldn't have worked--but Rodney would have.

https://i.postimg.cc/G3Mhgn1Z/grid.jpg

9/9, 20

Mets so i had to do it, got burned by piazza, i know marlins/piazza is a cheat code but 13%? jeez... Also Conine was on the Mets for like a blink of an eye 20 years ago, weird to see it 3% instead of .3%. just glad to be back in the ken brett business tbh

https://imgur.com/a/IoFAkFv

9/9, 12(!)
https://i.postimg.cc/bwRHtdTy/IMG-9205.jpg

The Gardner pick was a one in a million, I knew he played the outfield but took a pure guess at it & he has literally ONE career appearance there. He was the other corner!

Cody Ross was famously a blocking waver claim for the Giants from the Marlins and he finished his career in Oakland.

“Whatever happened to clutch WS double-play turner Joe Panik?” I wondered a while back. Thankfully I knew!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqJYVcTwCF4

kudos, my super power is insanely specific to 70s era crap mets but knowing marginal contemp players at an in-the-weeds level can match that for sure. interesting to see someone come in from such an outsider base level and see where their strengths are.

as a young person i could absorb and retain insane levels of info on the most forgettable players, and my son has the same level of retention - i'm constantly asking him to explain players that i am not familiar with, it's definitely tied to age. after going in on the grid for a few weeks i started to recall long forgotten names, but you probably have that same level of remembering today players even though you might not be a kid, it's all new to you. i just like reliving my youth via this game, the 70s were a great period in mlb and i like stepping back there.

I have very specific knowledge but I don’t think I can approach anyone on ILBB on breadth yet. Knowing the dynasty Giants teams is great because they had a lot of marginal bit part players that moved around a lot, I’m always reading back and watching old series so trying to accumulate knowledge but I’ll never have the grown-up-with-it base that most of you have. I do what I can, basically!

i approach the grid similar to how i used to do the nytimes crossword circa 30-35 yers ago - good base knowledge but then pick out the cheat codes, there's like 1-2 dozen old reliables that get you to the promised land even though they may not be your part of your core knowledge.

Speaking of which, here's one you both might find useful (I have four or five): Only two guys have played for all four '61/62 expansion teams (Angels, Senators/Rangers, Mets, Astros): one exceedingly famous player to avoid, Nolan Ryan, but also Darren Oliver.

9/9, 8 today. I thought I'd be even lower: Molitor and Boyer are 5% between them right now. (May go lower.) There are 269 correct answers for 1B/30-SB; I shouldn't be naming a HOF'er. And Mort Cooper (who I think I knew) or Marty Marion (who I didn't) would have been better for Cards MVP. But I did remember Phil Cavarretta from a mistake two or three weeks ago.

https://i.postimg.cc/4d8n6CYS/grid.jpg

Baylor is generally remembered as a big, slow-moving RBI guy; before he turned 30, though, he stole 20+ eight years in a row, with a high of 52 on the '76 A's (who stole *341* as a team).

9/9, 6

https://imgur.com/a/TKbaxNN

Has been purchased (or licensed) by mlb.com. They were linking to Sporacle for a while (and may still be) in what seemed like an effort to compete, but I guess it wasn't working.

Still doing this godforsaken thing. Had only one 9 since Monday--that Colorado grid, so rarity wasn't great.

8/9, 103 today. Almost ran the table: 7/7, 1.28%, 200 wins/Tigers and 200 wins/GG left. I didn't want to use Bunning for the Tigers, and I wanted to avoid Maddux/Gibson/Kaat for the other. So I got the idea to try Bunning for Tigers/GG--struck me as a guy who must have won at least one. Nope. Only 14 correct answers, two of which, Niekro and Hershiser, had crossed my mind.

https://i.postimg.cc/sgzKkTKJ/grid.jpg

To paraphrase Snoop Dogg, I use Bobo Newsom like every single day now. I've memorized six of his nine teams--seven now, because I could have used him for Tigers/200 wins.

9/9, 51. Two pretty good rows; Cubs, no. I'd wonder if all those Holtzman points directly resulted from people reading obituaries the other day, except I can answer my own question: that's why I remembered he threw a couple of no-hitters. Catfish Hunter is primarily famous for two things on the field: winning 20 games so many times and pitching a perfect game. So of course he's 0.7% for 20 wins/no-hitter.

https://i.postimg.cc/xjGRnsCm/grid.jpg

The only kind of 9 I can get for a grid with one of the final four (Rays): 122 rarity.

https://i.postimg.cc/d13fj97J/grid.jpg

I'm surprised Magglio Ordóñez reliably scores under 5%. I know he played in the PED era, but he had some huge years, especially 2007 (for the Tigers): 54 doubles, 139 RBI, .363, MVP runner-up. He seems somewhat forgotten, at least in this context. Quite a post-retirement career! "In August 2013, Ordóñez announced that he would run for the office of mayor in the Juan Antonio Sotillo Municipality in Venezuela, on the ticket of the late Chavez's United Socialist Party of Venezuela. It was announced on December 9, 2013 that he had been elected Mayor."

Had a pretty good one going today--8/8, 17%--but tried Hal Trotsky for the Guardians-only box; nope, two years with the White Sox at the tail end of his career. I thought of Joe Charboneau but decided nah, no chance--so of course he would have worked. Another possibility I'd completely forgotten from my 1970 Zander Hollander guide: Roy Foster, runner-up for AL ROY in 1970, out of the league after three seasons.

9/9, 19. By the time I got to Astros/Giants, I was going to be over 10% no matter what, so I quickly typed in Morgan's name. I don't often come up with first-time answers that please me anymore--I usually settle for proven tricks and mnemonics--but I had one today: Ollie Brown, who again goes back to my 1970 Zander Hollander guide. Unless I'm forgetting someone, he was basically the only Padre other than Nate Colbert worth a damn back then (Randy Jones not there yet).

https://i.postimg.cc/63yc80cQ/grid.jpg

9/9, 4, I think tied for best-ever (also probably the easiest grid ever, I know). I wanted all nine to be under 1%, and looking at the two that aren't, I think there's still a chance. (No one ever used to guess Martin Dihigo.) The only two I hesitated on were Bottomley for the HOF and Norm Cash--I knew his '61 season, in the shadow of Maris and Mantle, was huge, but wasn't completely sure that he made it to 40 HR.

https://i.postimg.cc/9M34nrmM/grid.jpg

I got 12% today. Always love coming here and getting the wind taken out my my sails! Lol.

Trust me, whenever I post a really low score, buzzq parachutes in with 1% less.

buzza...

Oh I’m aware!

Today's grid is funny, based on a distinction even GG voters never used to make. No way I'm getting 9 unless I go for really obvious answers, and probably not even then. And I can only use César Tovar once.

8/8, 5%, thought about Junior Felix for Angels CF, balked, tried Ken Henderson--didn't even play for the Angels. Felix would have worked.

https://i.postimg.cc/cJkRwWMd/grid.jpg

Emailed a guy named Aidan today, who I've contacted before about category ideas for IG. On the 10,000 to 1 chance this actually happens, remember, it was my idea.

Aidan -- Hear me out...

What about an Immaculate Grid tournament? You have an entry fee, pick a city, find a venue, run a tournament. You charge like $50 to enter, and you give back half what you collect in prize money (making sure you have enough left for expenses). If you're looking to make money, adjust accordingly.

I really think you'd draw people in if the prize money made it worthwhile. Think of how many people enter Scrabble tournaments. Everything's the same as the daily grid, with a random mix of categories. You set up a bracket with groups of 4--64 players, 128, etc. Ties are broken by rarity (presumably, most everyone's getting 9/9s). You have something set up to prevent cheating.

I'm in Canada, but if it were close enough, I'd probably give it a go. There's a guy I know through a message board who's much--*much*--better than I am, and I expect there are lots of people like him who'd enter.

Or you could set something up online...but the cheating part of it then becomes more of a challenge, I'm guessing.